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Emergence Day
Emergence Day, otherwise known as E-Day, was a swift, full-scale, coordinated and unprecedented, planet-wide assault on the surface of Sera initiated by the Locust Horde. Nearly every single major human city on the surface of Sera was attacked from the subterranean, using both bio-engineered weapons and stolen human technology. All breaches were along the ground line, in what was a campaign of rapid dominance. It was a textbook military invasion. There were massive casualties everywhere the Locust arrived; over a quarter of the total human population died on that very first day. The Locust Horde was able to deploy huge numbers of their forces into all major cities on the surface at once. The Locust rapidly dominated the humans in their massive assault and were able to defeat all organized human resistance for over a year. They had used the spoils of war and victory to gather all available military and civilian technological equipment and resources to use against the COG and the few UIR nations that still existed after the Pendulum Wars.Gears of War: PC - The Timgad power station was being used by the Locust and had the power sent into the HollowsGears of War: Jacinto's Remnant - The Republic of Gorasnaya never surrendered, but was eventually completely overrun by the Locust Horde The Locust Horde's onslaught and assault continued for a year until the Hammer of Dawn strikes, in which the Hammer of Dawn technology was deployed under the newly elected Chairman Richard Prescott.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant Order of Events Prelude Unknown to the Seran population, except for Professor Adam Fenix, a subterranean race of creatures known as the Locust Horde had been inhabiting the tunnels underneath Sera, known as the Hollows, for some unknown amount of time. In 9 B.E., Doctor Elain Fenix made the first discovery of the Locust Horde but was executed by them in fear of their exposure. Adam Fenix then followed her notes into the Hollows where he met their leader, Queen Myrrah. She revealed to him that her people had been fighting a war against the Lambent, a mutated race of the Locust who had been infected by the Imulsion. Due to them losing the war, Myrrah also revealed her plans to invade the surface, eradicate all human life, and colonize the surface in order to evade the Lambent. Adam Fenix, fearing this violent outcome, promised to help aide in her research to find a cure for Lambency. As time went on, however, Adam Fenix was called by the Coalition of Ordered Governments to prepare the Hammer of Dawn in order to win the Pendulum Wars against the Union of Independent Republics. Whenever he did have time to research for a cure, he discovered that nearly all biological measures would fail against the mutagen, and other measures that could kill it would also kill the Locust Horde. Adam Fenix then focused his time on ending the Pendulum Wars in order to focus on keeping the Locust from emerging. However, Myrrah and the others in her council grew impatient and desperate, ultimately deciding to emerge and destroy humanity in order to escape the Lambent. Adam Fenix was successful in completing the Hammer of Dawn and was used to end the war against the UIR. A few UIR holdouts were still continuing the fight, but most of Sera was celebrating the end of the war.Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 48 The Seran population was at rest, where several thousand Gears were given leave and the civilian population celebrated the end of the Pendulum Wars.Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 48-49 However, Adam contemplated telling the COG about the possible attack by the Locust, but he believed he would be able to find a cure still and keep the Locust underground. In the days before the Locust emergence, an epidemic of earthquakes and tremors were reported across Sera, puzzling scientists and journalists. Emergence Day Six weeks after the signing of the peace treaty between the COG and the UIR, the Locust Horde emerged from underground and launched an attack on all major cities on the surface in a surprise, coordinated, full-scale, all-out assault upon the human race. One of the first cities to be attacked was Jannermont, which held a large COG army base within the city. The battle was personally led by Uzil RAAM and Ketor Skorge. Among other cities were Ilima, Porta Ogari, Mattino Junction, and Nordesca. The Republic of Gorasnaya, the only UIR country to not surrender, fell on Emergence Day to Zamil Karn with the aid of the Shibboleth. However, a natural bedrock of granite known as the Jacinto Plateau spared many cities from the scourge of the Locust Horde. Jacinto City went untouched, and while the COG managed to secure Ephyra, the capitol city was still attacked by the Locust due to natural fissures in the bedrock as well as subway and sewage tunnels offering access to the city. The COG then managed to fill these access points with gas and cement and were successful in blocking them out of Ephyra and other cities on the plateau. Other locations on Sera were also spared due to natural defenses as well. Islands such as the minor South Islands, the Lesser Islands chain including Vectes, and the Island of Azura were spared due to abyssal trenches and difficulty digging under the oceans. As for the mainland, all major cities outside of the Jacinto Plateau were attacked and destroyed by the Locust Horde. Early Hours of Confusion and SNC first report on Emergence Day.]] Initial reports sent out by the press and forms of other news media attested that grey monsters were emerging from the underground and slaughtering civilians as told by surviving witnesses. In the early hours of Emergence Day, many believed that this was an elaborate hoax or promotion for a new film. Others, who took the threat seriously, initially believed that the Pendulum Wars had started again or that the Gorasni was attackingGears of War: Coalition’s End pg 52-65 until Chairman Tomas Dalyell made an announcement that a new and foreign enemy was attacking the surface from the Hollows.Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 65 One of the first cities to have reports of an unknown enemy attacking was Jannermont, where the death toll would reach over 100,000. Images of the massacred on the Jannermont highway were shown on news networks across Sera.Gears of War: Coalition’s End pg 52 More reports revealed that Porta Ogari was attacked along with cities in Pelles, Vasgar, Gorasnaya, and Ostri.Gears of War: Coalition’s End pg 105 The Global Communications Network crashed,Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 40 and the COG Civil Protection Service network also crashed. With such high percentages of casualties, hospitals were quickly overwhelmed and forced to turn away more incoming wounded.Last Day Official politicians and reporters told the public to remain indoors and remain calm, believing that the authorities and the military had the situation under control. COG Mobilization After Chairman Tomas Dalyell's speech, the entire COG military mobilized all of their forces, resources and other assets and sent them to the cities to battle the Locust. The 25th Sherrith Cavalry was called back from leave along with many other units. The COG was then able to secure most of Tyrus. However, no other military force across Sera had any situation under control; the Locust dominated the human forces and annihilated everything in their path. As Emergence Day continued to unfold, the Locust began to mercilessly hunt down and butcher civilians in their homes, businesses, and on the streets. The Locust refused to distinguish between men, women and children, and relentlessly pursued everyone they found with an unquenchable blood thirst. With the general public being unarmed and with most of the COG armed forces on leave after the Pendulum Wars, the civilians of Sera were almost helpless to defend themselves. In just twenty-six hours, a quarter of the human population was killed, with many cities and towns completely annihilated. Outcome and Aftermath The COG Army began sending troops into Mattino Junction and other cities while Nordesca was also attacked three days after E-Day. While on the home front, the Chairman ordered the Cougars in Hanover city to continue with the scheduled Thrashball game for a morale boost since Hanover was not attacked.Gears of War: Coalition’s End pg 101 E-Day would eventually end and the Locust Horde would continue advancing across Sera, destroying everything and killing everyone in their path. Shortly after Emergence Day, census across Sera revealed that billions, specifically 25% of the entire human race, was killed in the initial onslaught of the Locust Horde. And millions more were declared missing; with people either lost in the chaos, their corpses not found, or many being captured by the Locust Horde. The Locust scientist, Ukkon, demanded a quota of captured humans to perform experiments on. The rumors of the missing since E-Day were ranged from the Locust eating humans to the Locust taking prisoners. Because of the horrors experienced in the aftermath of Emergence Day, the survivors believed those who were killed on E-Day were fortunate enough to not witness what Sera has become, and so the saying among the survivors on Sera was created: "The lucky ones died on E-Day." Less than a month after E-Day, the Minister for Social Welfare, Natalya Vreland, began to question how the COG was going to be able to deal with the refugees from destroyed cities, who were already putting a strain on resources.Gears of War: Coalition's End pg 174 A year after E-Day, Chairman Dalyell passed away from a heart attack and Richard Prescott was elected into office. He attempted to unite humanity for a counter-strike against the Locust Horde, but was unable to gain support from the COG member states,Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 53-55 forcing him to undertake the single greatest imminent loss of life during the war. Prescott instated the Fortification Act, and gave Serans three days to retreat to Ephyra before he fired the Hammer of Dawn. At great cost to human life and infrastructure, the Locust were driven back by orbital weaponry and chemical warfare, effectively denying assets to the Locust Horde. However, they were not defeated. Over the next decade, the Locust would continue their persistent onslaught against humanity - finally breaching Jacinto Plateau at the East Barricade Academy ten years after Emergence Day, and putting Jacinto under siege five years after that. E-Day was such a significant event in the history of mankind that the age old calendar system was abolished in favor of a year marking system that involved counting the years before and after E-Day to mark an event, i.e. B.E. = Before Emergence / A.E. = After Emergence. Behind the Scenes *The first image of Emergence Day was noted as being taken within forty-five minutes of the first emergence, according to Defense Research Agency scientist Nevil Estrom.Gears of War: The Slab pg 29 References Category:Battles Category:Events Category:Locust Horde military victories